Convention Bureau

E. James Byrnes was elected vice president of the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau at a recent board meeting. Byrnes is president of Early American Industries, Lower Macungie Township; a past president of the Allentown/Lehigh County Tourist and Convention Bureau, and a former board member of the Allentown/Lehigh County Chamber of Commerce.

William J. Albert has been named president of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society, fulfilling the term of William F. Greenawald, who died Jan. 28. In December, Albert was re-elected first vice president of the nonprofit society that owns and operates The Great Allentown Fair and The Allentown Fairgrounds. He has held that position since 2005. Albert of North Catasauqua will continue as an integral member of the society's executive committee, a nine-member group elected by the society's 99-member board of directors to manage fair and fairgrounds operations.

The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau recently became the fourth convention bureau in Pennsylvania to install computer software specifically designed for convention sales. Lehigh County provide the bureau with a $7,600 special grant to purchase the software --Marketing Operations Support Technology or MOST -- which also is used by the Philadelphia and the Valley Forge convention bureaus. Mary Ann Bungerz, executive director of the local convention bureau, said they chose the MOST software because it is one of the newest in the market, can be adapted for large or small sales staffs and is compatible to a computerized information network or CINET offered by the International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus.

A visitors center will open in downtown Allentown next year to provide a more central place for tourists to learn about the area's attractions. The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau's plan for a center at Ninth and Hamilton streets is part of a bid to increase the visibility of the agency, and to foster awareness of attractions. The 1,000-square-foot office will be on the first floor of the Alvin H. Butz headquarters, which is under construction. The center will replace a smaller center at the bureau's main offices in an out-of-the-way industrial park in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

A visitors center will open in downtown Allentown next year to provide a more central place for tourists to learn about the area's attractions. The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau's plan for a center at Ninth and Hamilton streets is part of a bid to increase the visibility of the agency, and to foster awareness of attractions. The 1,000-square-foot office will be on the first floor of the Alvin H. Butz headquarters, which is under construction. The center will replace a smaller center at the bureau's main offices in an out-of-the-way industrial park in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

With a lot of corporate travel grounded for a while, local tourism officials are starting a campaign today to remind businesspeople they can hold meetings in the Lehigh Valley. A marketing blitz by the Lehigh Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau hopes to visit as many as 500 local companies today and Thursday. Businesspeople can gather at local hotels and bed and breakfasts, many of which can hook in colleagues from different parts of the country via audio conferencing and videoconferencing, said Kelly Ronalds, director of sales for the convention bureau.

A travel writers' familiarization tour of Bethlehem, arranged through the Hotel Bethlehem, will be held Aug. 17-19 to coincide with Musikfest `84. However, a similar excursion for charter bus operators will not take place as reported in yesterday's Morning Call, according to Stephanie Katz, executive director of the Northampton County Tourism Council. Also, the council's merger with the Allentown-Lehigh County Tourist and Convention Bureau will not take place officially until July 1, 1985, she said.

To the Editor: We are pleased that our own congressman, Rep. Don Ritter, was a major cosponsor of the legislation designating May 27-June 2, 1984, as National Tourism Week. We congratulate him for his forward-thinking approach to tourism as an industry and its contribution to this country's economic development. The National Tourism Dinner on May 31, attended by over 250 people, demonstrated the unity that exists between Lehigh and Northampton counties relative to tourism, the fastest-growing industry of the decade.

E. James Byrnes, Allentown, was elected for a one-year term as president of the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is a charter member of the bureau and a former president and board member of the Allentown-Lehigh County Tourist and Convention Bureau. A Pennsylvania State University graduate, he owns Early American Industries Inc., which is comprised of the Early American Candle Shop in Wescosville, Silk and Scent in the Allentown Outlet Mall, and Honeybee Galleries, a wholesaler.

A dinner to recognize how the Lehigh Valley benefits from tourism and observe National Tourism Week will be held May 31 at Holiday Inn East. Speakers will be U.S. Rep. Don Ritter, R-15th District; James O. Pickard, Pennsylvania Secretary of Commerce, and William D. Toohey, president of the Travel Industry Association of America. Pickard will present "Tourism From a State Perspective." He was a member of Gov. Thornburgh's Small Business Council, is a commissioner of the Delaware River Port Authority and is chairman of the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority and the Ben Franklin Partnership Board.

Mike Stershic is back. Since November, he has been serving as executive director of the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. He held the same title from 1985 to 1987, when he was the first in the position. The job was much different back then. And so was the Lehigh Valley. "In the 1980s, the cities and counties scraped money together to support us," said Stershic, 52. "So we had to promote ourselves. There was no hotel tax as now. Our budget was $300,000 in 1987." About 2 million people visited the Lehigh Valley in 1987, with Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom attracting nearly half.

The Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau will soon expand its efforts to promote the region through the Internet, radio and cable television, its new executive director said. Michael Stershic, who will begin working for the bureau Nov. 3 after leaving his position as Lehigh County's development and marketing director, said he hopes to diversify and amplify the mediums through which the Lehigh Valley is promoted. "They [the bureau's board] have high expectations and I won't let them down," Stershic said.

Is there really a "Hot Dog King"? Are there pyramids in nearby Egypt? Can we bet at the region's own "Taj Mahal"? Frustrated by a nosy visitor, a Lehigh Valley native might respond to such questions: "I don't know." On Monday, the Lehigh Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau announced it has developed a visitor service training program that will provide insider knowledge about the Lehigh Valley. It's called Destination Lehigh Valley, and it has been developed to teach residents and front-line tourism personnel such as hotel workers how to effectively deal with visitors.

In a conversation about 20 years ago with someone from Philadelphia, I mentioned that I lived in Allentown. "Oh, I know Allentown," he said "Hess's, Dorney Park." While Hess's is no more, Dorney Park, actually located in South Whitehall Township, continues to thrive bigger than ever. For some who remember the simpler park of the past, the change can seem a bit overwhelming. To keep the memories of the old Dorney young, writer Wally Ely and Robert "Bob" Ott, whose family was involved with the park from the 1920s to the 1980s, have put together a photographic history of the amusement mecca.

With a lot of corporate travel grounded for a while, local tourism officials are starting a campaign today to remind businesspeople they can hold meetings in the Lehigh Valley. A marketing blitz by the Lehigh Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau hopes to visit as many as 500 local companies today and Thursday. Businesspeople can gather at local hotels and bed and breakfasts, many of which can hook in colleagues from different parts of the country via audio conferencing and videoconferencing, said Kelly Ronalds, director of sales for the convention bureau.

John Lush, 76, of Allentown, died Thursday, Sept. 27, in his home. He was the husband of Margaret (Stinner) Lush. They were married for 61 years in May. He was the owner and operator of the former Pennsylvania Restaurant, Allentown, 1953-83. Born in Allentown, he was a son of the late Theodore and Julia (Machkow) Lush. He was a member of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Allentown. He was an Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, serving two years in Europe and Africa. He was a prisoner of war in Germany for a year.

Binney & Smith, Inc., of Easton, the world-famous crayon manufacturer, has become the first corporate sponsor of the newly merged Lehigh Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau. The corporate membership drive is being led by Ray Holland, president of Holiday Industries, Inc., and Don Follett, president of the Follett Corp. The executives will send letters to 60 Lehigh Valley companies in the next month. These letters will be followed by personal contacts by Jack Yohe, director of Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport, and Robert McCarthy, consultant to the Stroh Brewery Co. "The men have volunteered their time to the bureau because they recognize the benefits of a very strong tourist bureau in the Lehigh Valley to promote conventions, special events, and to increase general tourism," Holland said yesterday.

To the Editor: Annual recognition of the tourism industry as the major industry of the decade has been signed into legislation. Congressman Don Ritter was one of the major cosponsors of the bill designating National Tourism Week, which is now being celebrated. We have a lot to celebrate in the Lehigh Valley. Our natural beauty attracts thousands of travelers each year who enjoy the area's historical and cultural activities and special events. National Tourism Week will be a springboard to increased tourism in the future as more emphasis is placed on the industry for local economic growth.

Merchants and civic leaders in Easton hope summer visitors to The Crayola Factory at Two River's Landing will stay in town and see more of the area -- and they have created a program to help them do so. "We look at this quadrant as a launching pad to get people out into the community," Easton Mayor Thomas Goldsmith said Monday. The program, an expansion of a program that began last summer, will include trolley service provided by Palmeri Motorcoach Co., another trolley that will serve as a visitor's center in Center Square, LANTA bus service to Hugh Moore Park and discount combination passes for admission to The Crayola Factory at Two Rivers Landing, Hugh Moore Park and Bushkill Park.

Postcards came to life yesterday at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Fogelsville. Representatives from 30-some attractions showed off their wares to about 150 members of the Lehigh Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc. There was an owl from the Trexler-Lehigh County Game Preserve, a Philadelphia Eagle from the team's training camp at Lehigh University, a Valleysaur (a toothy cousin of Barney) from the Weller Center for Health Education and a description of "Steel Force" from Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom.